Information about Crest Accessories in Fire Emblem Three Hopes, including what are Crest Accessories, and how to unlock Crest Accessories.

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(1 of 3) Some characters have Crests,

What Are Crest Accessories in Fire Emblem Three Hopes?¶

Not everybody possesses a Crest, which are mysterious, inherited markings that grant a person special powers, not the least of which is the ability to wield Hero Relics and benefit fully from both Hero Relics and Sacred Weapons. In lore, possessing a Crest is virtually a requirement to attain high social status and political power, marriages are arranged in the hopes of spawning Crest-bearing children, and society is stratified, in part, between those who possess Crests and those who do not.

But why let such a bedrock aspect of the game’s plot get in the way of what everybody really cares about - gameplay?

Characters with Crests definitely have an advantage over their Crestless counterparts, all things otherwise being equal… which isn’t to say not possessing a Crest makes a character useless in combat (or even inferior - variable stat growths, stat caps and learned Class Abilities and Magics account for more than Crests in Three Hopes), but possessing a Crest gives a character a passive chance for said Crest to activate during combat, granting various boons. Not only do Crests have a chance to randomly activate, the actions that trigger the effects of a Crest and/or subsequently benefit from a Crest’s activation are fairly narrow; some characters will heal more when their Crest activates, deal more damage with strong attacks, Combat Arts or offensive magic, leech HP when attacking, etc. All in all their effects are generally minor or moderate, although their potency can be improved by unlocking the “Research General Crestology” and “Research Advanced Crestology” upgrgrades at the Tactics Academy.

Aside from the activation effects of Crests themselves, the real boon of possessing one is the ability to equip - and enjoy the full benefits of - Hero Relics and Sacred Weapons. These powerful items have many potent properties, including high Might and Durability (in the case of weapons), potentially unique modifiers (depending on the individual Hero Relic and Sacred Weapon, of course), access to various Combat Arts and Magics and perhaps most useful for low level characters, they all count as E-rank weapons, allowing anybody of the appropriate class to use them - ideal for low level characters who want overpowered weapons to see them through the early game. With the wrong Crest, a character cannot fully utilize Hero Relics and Sacred Weapons (although this is often a relatively minor downside), and with no Crest at all a Hero Relic will harm a character trying to wield it, effectively disincentivizing them from using it.

Enter Crest Accessories, special accessories which, when equipped, give the user the effects of a specific Crest. This allows them to fully utilize Hero Relics and Sacred Weapons, and equip Hero Relics without suffering the customary HP drain. The character will also gain the effects of whatever Crest they have equipped. For example, a character equipped with the Grim Dragon Sign Crest Accessory will effectively gain the Crest of Blaiddyd, allowing them to benefit from Areadbhar and giving them the Crest property “20% chance to significantly increase the damage dealt by combat arts in exchange for slightly increasing the weapon durability cost”.

There are some downsides to using a Crest Accessory, however. First and most obviously, you won’t be able to use any other accessory, and in some cases you may be better off using a normal A-rank weapon (which can be just as powerful as many Hero Relics and Sacred Weapons, depending on their modifiers) and a different accessory. Second, the activation rate of Crests bestowed by Crest Accessories is lower than the actual Crest itself would be. Conversely, characters who already possess a Crest can equip a Crest Accessory to boost the effectiveness of their Crest.

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Characters who do not possess a Crest natively can simulate the effects of one by equpping a Crest Accessory.

How to Unlock Crest Accessories?¶

To unlock Crest Accessories you must complete the game on any route, on any difficulty. Once done you’ll unlock New Game +. Just make an end save when prompted and go to start a new game and you’ll be prompted to import data from a previous save, which will be auto-detected. Once you’ve loaded your New Game + save you’ll be able to choose on a character-by-character basis whether you want to keep earned levels, after which you’ll get to choose the difficulty for the next playthrough… including the new Maddening difficulty.

More relevantly, once you reach Chapter 4 you can search the Journal in your Personal Quarters in the Base Camp. This is where you can spend Renown to purchase various items; in your first playthrough this is limited to permanent stat-boosting consumables, which are all well and good, but in New Game + you’ll be able to buy a variety of new items, including Crest Accessories. Each Crest Accessory will set you back 6 Renown.